The Secret Society of Giraffes

With a growing fan base here in Eugene, the electronic psychedelia that is “The Secret Society of Giraffes” discards convention to create a style all of its own. With solid beats, strange time signatures and lyrics that tend to evoke personal apocalypse, the project is a unique powerhouse that challenges human perception. With smooth progressions throughout songs, often leading to explosions of sound, it becomes increasingly more difficult to fight the urge to dance.

“I try to write songs about living in the world, and a lot of them are about mistakes I’ve made.” Says nineteen-year-old Ali Muhareb, the sole mastermind behind S.S.G, whose solo work is undoubtedly the crown jewel of his music career thus far. Though he has years to go before reaching a zenith, this young artist still has the power to amaze. At such a young age, it becomes startlingly clear that Muhareb has a lot of time left to build upon his already abundant talent.

With mostly processed vocals, fans of clean, vocoder-free music may find difficulty in “The Secret Society of Giraffes” at first, but before long the way in which the singing is crafted grows into an entirely novel experience. With heavy vocalization, the words are extracted from their usual context, thus allowing the lyrics to reach an almost instrumental state. This, along with many similar characteristics, makes up the essence of originality that lies within Muhareb’s tracks.


(Photo: SSG: it's what's for dinner)

From the calming progressions of “God’s Of Sound” through to the utter freak-out that is “Powerful Beat”, the LP “We’re all Doomed/It’s Alright” contains many of Muhareb’s signature sounds. Most of the tracks found on this album are also seen at S.S.G shows, where the young artist is sometimes joined by guitarist Denis Rickard who adds a fuller, more psychedelic feel to the project’s futuristic sound. Beyond this, Muhareb designs his own lightshows that only serve to heighten the senses further.

The project has already been the subject of abundant votes for this year’s “PDX Pop Now” festival that will take place in Portland over the summer, and with the imminent release of a new EP entitled “The Earth is a Snow Globe” it will be hard to miss Muhareb and his “Secret Society of Giraffes” in the not so distant future.